Presenter: Julie Barkmeier-Kraemer, PhD, CCC-SLP, Professor of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, University of Utah
Abstract: Tremor is one of the most common movement disorders in the world affecting ~5% of those 60 years of age and older. Approximately 1/3 of those with essential tremor exhibit vocal tremor (VT). Further, VT can occur without, or with other neurological comorbidities such as essential tremor, dystonia, or Parkinson’s disease. Frequently, severe VT is clinically confused with spasmodic dysphonia, more recently referred to as laryngeal dystonia (LD). Improved systematic characterization of VT clinical features and associated physiology could improve current clinical approaches used to classify and optimize treatment planning. Importantly, greater precision in VT classification would advance insights regarding neural pathways of tremor affecting the limbs versus speech structures potentially leading to development of future novel treatment targets. This presentation will summarize current clinical research efforts to characterize distinguishing clinical features and associated physiology of tremor affecting speech structures to inform VT classification criteria.
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